I made this soil-working tool to lighten the hard work, since digging the ground with an ordinary shovel—constantly bending and straightening—had become harder and harder over the years. The device itself is a modest invention (an author’s certificate was obtained for it), but it is useful: now my back does not hurt even after long Read more…
It would seem that a shovel is such a simple tool that changing or improving its design is hardly possible. A handle and a blade—that’s the whole device. Nevertheless, there are many variations of this rather ancient farming (and not only!) implement. And the search for its modernization continues. Including by our readers, as evidenced Read more…
For many years Modelist-Konstruktor has been introducing its readers to various furniture designs intended for do-it-yourself construction. Unfortunately, as reader mail shows, not all home craftsmen who want to get started can take on replicating them. This especially applies to residents of large cities. The main reason is a shortage of “building” materials or, at Read more…
On a summer cottage plot in bad weather you can take shelter indoors. However, even on a sunny day you sometimes want to hide — from the scorching rays. And if there are no large trees on the plot that would provide welcome shade, you don’t have to build a solid permanent gazebo, as is Read more…
Memories of childhood and adolescence stay with a person for life: of the native log house with a Russian stove; of sun-warmed dusty paths in the garden and vegetable patch, of the sawbucks (often stressed on the second syllable in speech) for sawing firewood, standing to the side in the yard by the woodshed… And Read more…
If a country house or rural home has a high roof — it’s a sin not to take advantage of such an advantage and not to arrange an attic there: it can serve as an additional bedroom, study, and even a children’s room. The under-roof space itself can be equipped both during construction and in Read more…
Every gardener knows how difficult it is to bring water for watering beds or trees during dry periods. Many use large tanks or bidons with a capacity of 35—40 liters, mounting them on carts. But lifting and removing such a bidon is far beyond everyone’s strength. The design of a cart I made significantly facilitates Read more…
It’s hard to imagine urban and rural life without running water nowadays. Well, if there’s no centralized water supply and a well is nearby, the simplest solution is to use an electric pump to lift water. However, that’s only half the job. A home water supply system should include a storage tank, automatic pump control Read more…
To obtain hot water in a bathhouse, a tank-register on the stove pipe (or a boiler in the stove itself) and an external tank in the washroom are often used. Water circulation between them is carried out by natural convection due to the difference in specific weight of hot and cold liquid at temperature differences. Read more…
Many city dwellers would like to take a steam bath in their own sauna, but in most cases they don’t have such an opportunity. Even owners of dacha and garden plots don’t always have the conditions to build a full-fledged bathhouse: one lacks space, another lacks funds, a third lacks both. I considered myself one Read more…
